Nailing it with a smile

As a hardworking girl from a small prison town in upstate New York, Katie Cazorla has seen both good times and bad. After moving to Los Angeles in her early 20’s to break into stand-up comedy, she even spent a brief time living in her car, surviving on ramen noodles and cherishing a bag of nail polish. Although she had been a lover of nail art since a very young age, it was when times were tough that Katie became fully aware of a phenomenon she refers to as “the power of polish”. She remembers fondly that no matter how terrible of a day she was having, looking down at freshly manicured nails would bring a smile to her face.

Like many of us do, Katie eventually reached her defining moment; she came to a point which would change her life. After enduring a particularly painful pedicure, she experienced a vivid dream detailing her perfect nail salon – complete with plush, comfortable furniture, colors that were relaxing and girlie, and even a VIP cabana. After sketching what she had imagined onto a napkin, Katie set to work opening her salon – a task she completed in just 3 short months. Less than a month later, her salon was booked for the remainder of the year and had become a celebrity hotspot. That was not even four years ago. Today, not only is Katie’s salon, “The Painted Nail” one of the most well-known and successful salons in Los Angeles, but she is also the star of her own reality series on The TV Guide Network. “Nail Files” has just begun its second season, and already the renowned “Queen of Nails” delivers laugh after laugh while she and her loveable (yet feisty) salon staff giggle and tease their way into the hearts of faithful watchers nationwide. “Nail Files” is the epitome of an addicting guilty pleasure, a west-coast, salon-centered version of MTV’s “Jersey Shore”.

While Katie might appear to be just another Barbie look-alike with a Hollywood mansion and too much time on her hands, she is anything but. When asked what moment of her career has been the most memorable, her answer does not have anything to do with the world famous celebrities she has not only beautified, but also built friendships with. Instead, she tells the story of a charity event she was involved with for a homeless mothers organization. Katie visibly lights up as she recalls meeting women who had never experienced a beauty treatment of any kind. Seeing the joy they felt at simply being given the chance to feel feminine again is a memory that brings tears to Katie’s eyes and her emotion shows that despite her fame and success, she still knows what is important in life and wants to give back.

There is even more to Katie than her compassion, though. She works hard, doesn’t employ what many in the business call their “handlers”, and she considers herself a business owner first; making the superstar part of her life “the icing on the cake”. She still manages her salon staff and customers even now, while she is touring the country in the Nail Files Mobile Spa, treating the ladies and gentlemen (that’s right, men get manicures too!) of cities like Denver to free mani/pedis. In fact, Katie spent extra time in her hotel room before making her way to the Mobile Spa the morning of our interview so that she could save the day when a crisis occurred over a thousand miles away, back at the salon in Sherman Oaks, CA. Once she had helped her salon manager save the day, she joined me next to the mani-mobile, where she arrived Friday afternoon and set up shop. She was there through Sunday, bringing star quality to the paws and claws of hundreds of Denverites, while still finding time to sign autographs, pose for photos, and hand out oodles of goodies ranging from colorful nail polish to complete manicure kits and t-shirts! Next, the Nail Files Mobile Spa will make its way to Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, and St. Louis. Once the tour is complete, Katie will return home to California to be with her multiple Grammy award-winning fiance, Walter Afanasieff, and their two dogs, Pookie and Dolce. Make sure to get to know Katie by visiting her Facebook and Twitter pages, and watch her show Sundays at 9pm on TV Guide Network.